Why Ronaldo & Zidane Are Real's 'Two Main Problems'

Real Madrid have struggled in La Liga so far this season, and are already eight points behind FC Barcelona. A La Liga expert has now insisted that Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane are Los Blancos' "main problems".

Real's surprising 2-1 defeat to Girona on Sunday was their second of the 2017/8 campaign, and have also drawn two of their 10 league games.

However, Spanish football expert Guillem Balague has insisted Real are not in a "huge crisis", explaining that he believes Ronaldo's blanks in front of goal and Zidane's rotation policy are to blame for the club's struggles so far in this campaign.

"Real have two main problems," he wrote in his column for Sky Sports.

"Cristiano Ronaldo has scored only one goal in six games – of course, he will click at some point – but the issue against Girona was they didn't create many chances.

"Secondly, we have seen Zinedine Zidane successfully keep everyone in the squad happy – that was key to their title success last season. He was brave enough to make changes and to give rest to Ronaldo at important times.

"But when things start to go wrong, you need less of the man-manager and more of the coach. You don't get that from Zidane. He depends far too much on individual quality rather than the collective team."